At long last
by LauraLovegoodWrites
Summary: When Isla is 17 her parents finally agree to let her go to Hogwarts. She's behind in some things, ahead in others and from a completely different world. Enter James Potter. He's fascinated by this competitive new students who may just be that little bit smarter than him. T rating may change to M in the future. Please read and enjoy!


Well this was going to be a new experience. Being the transfer student to any new school was difficult but I feel like being the transfer student to a wizarding school was going to be even harder than usual. I was going to be so insanely behind, know no-one and yet I was so so, SO excited for almost every aspect. Except the lack of wi-fi.

The flight from Melbourne to London had been long and I'd been restless. I'd wanted to apparate or take a portkey but heading off to a wizarding boarding school was enough for my mother for one day and so dad agreed that I should take the twenty-two hour plane. From heathrow airport I'd gone straight to the train station. I had no intentions of missing the train. This was it after all, the day I had been dreaming of since both my parents had finally agreed that it was in my best interest to go to a proper wizarding school.

That was what led to this moment, me standing in front of the Hogwarts Express. The train was beautiful and looked just like dads photos, bright red with black detailing surrounded by students clambering to find their friends, tearful parents who didn't want to let go and a whole menagerie of animals.

With no-one here for me to farewell and no-one to search for I'm one of the first to drag my luggage onto the train and begin the trek to find my own compartment. It doesn't take long and I hoist my bag into the overhead storage.

This is it. I can feel the difference looking out across the sea of wizards in a strange assortment of clothing ranging from entirely wizarding attire to some muggle mixed in for good measure and those who are actually muggles and therefore understand dressing like them. This is not the crowd I am used to.

I take a quick picture on my mobile and text it to mum. I know she'll get a kick out of the craziness I'm surrounded by despite her aversion to the wizarding world. This may be the last text I send for a while. Realising the completely strange world I'm about to enter permanently I finally do the thing I've been longing to do all day. I unzip my pet carrier and pull the little white ball of fluff into my lap. A black nose and pink tongue appears and Toto looks up at me panting. Despite the limitations on what pets can technically be brought with us I've managed to sneak my dog in. Mum got her for me when we knew I would be leaving and the name was mostly ironic.

"You know Toto, I think you're going to like it where we're going, you will be the only dog and by far the cutest. I, on the other hand am rather suspicious of all this boarding school business. Whose dumbass idea was it to lump a bunch of hormonal magic wielding teenagers into one building anyway?" I look at her waiting for a response. She licks her nose and sniffs in my direction.

The real response comes from the doorway. "Well I thought everyone knew, Godric Gryffindor, Helga Hufflepuff, Rowena Ravenclaw and Salazar Slytherin. They of course never accounted for the possibility of strange Australians thinking this was a bad idea of course. I'm sure if they'd known they would never have founded the school."

I look up to see who had said it to find a collection of teenagers of varying age staring at me with a mixture of bemusement and outright suspicion. The one in the front however wore a sly grin and was obviously the one who'd spoken. Tall with dishevelled dark hair and green eyes it was immediately obvious who was before me. He had been in papers since he was a baby, the wizarding worlds version of a royal baby, and clearly he knew I knew.

"All right gang, I think I've found my compartment, anyone below sixth year shuffle off, I have friends who will be needing these seats. I'll see you at school. Hugo, please make sure Lily doesn't lose her cat again." He seems to be in charge of this gang of Weasleys and Potters and they disperse at his command leaving only five kids including himself remaining.

This was James Potter. And what I think are his posse or clique or whatever. Do they have those at wizarding school? I recognised two of the others as Albus Potter, James younger brother and their cousin Rose.

"Do you often invite yourself places? I mean, that kind of thing can sometimes be considered rude by strange Australians but if that's the only way you can get places by all means take a seat." I gesture to the empty seats around me.

"It's a hobby of mine actually. I've been getting rather good. I often invite myself into close quarters with pretty girls. With their permission of course, my mother raised me to be a gentleman after all." He says this whilst gracefully hoisting his baggage overhead, making the large suitcase look like it weighed nothing.

His friends also move into the compartment.

A girl, tall and waiflike with hair so blond it was almost white offers me her hand to shake. "Hi, I'm Thérèse, ignore James, he tends to believe that his parents celebrity status lends him some kind of authority. It's cute how important he thinks he is."

The others all laugh and settle into the compartment. Introductions are made and I find out that the only person I don't recognize is an Irish boy called Sean. James, Thérèse and Sean are all 7th years like me and Rose and Albus are 6th years.

"So wait, you've been at a muggle school until now with some magical homeschooling? Is that even legal?" Rose asks me, seeming the most appalled at my patchy education.

"The Aussie ministry is much more liberal as far as underage magic is concerned. There are only a few regulations once you hit fourteen and our only wizarding school is on the other side of the country. Mum didn't want me moving away when I was that young and when dad finally convinced her to let me go away for school that it had to be his alma mater. Before then dad homeschooled me in most basics." I explained. There was still a general look of shock horror from the compartment.

"Merlins beard! How did you cope living with your parents for so long?" James looks as aghast at this suggestion as Rose is at my parent's casual approach to magical education.

I laugh. "It wasn't that bad, it's quite normal for muggles really, though I must say I am quite looking forward to gaining some freedom." I smile.

Now it's their turn to laugh. "I doubt you'll find Hogwarts particularly conducive to freedom." Sean smiles knowingly. "Particularly with Filch still around. Rumours of his retirement circulate every year but it's yet to happen."

The train journey passes with some general chit chat and some more horror from the others as they learnt more about my life. As we approached I couldn't pull my eyes from the window and the others change into their robes. I have some general robes but as I have yet to be assigned a house it looks wrong and unfinished.

When we get off the train I don't quite know where to go. Technically I'm not a first year being as I'm 17 and not 11 but as I've never been to Hogwarts before I think I might in some senses considered one. This theory is confirmed when I head towards the carriages with the Potter-Weasley gang and hear someone yelling my name. I turn around to see Hagrid shaking his head at me and gesturing for me to follow him.

Dad had told me so many stories of Hagrids lessons from when he was a student and I immediately recognise the half giant. "First years, follow me!" He shouts over the crowd of eleven year olds surrounding him. It's immediately obvious that I'm the only older student and the first years seem tiny beside me.

We're loaded onto the boats and slowly begin to make our way across the lake, lanterns attached to the sterns lighting our way. They all seem to be keeping a safe distance from me due to a mixture of confusion and intimidation.

We leave the boats and begin the hike up to the castle. Before we enter the Great Hall for the sorting however an elderly professor comes to talk to us. "Welcome to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Today marks the beginning of your magical education, you will join your classmates momentarily. You will be sorted into one of four houses when you pass through these doors. Your houses will be your families while you are here. You will share in triumphs and failures alike. Points will be awarded for successes and deducted for rule breaking. These houses are Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw, Gryffindor and Slytherin. Let's begin."

She turns around and with a sweep of her hands the doors open. We enter in a procession down the centre aisle between tables of loud students. Assembling around a small stool with a hat upon it, the headmistress, Professor McGonagall flourishes a parchment and lifts the sorting hat.

"Miss Isla Creevey." I look up and take a deep breath. Here goes nothing.

Authors Note: Thank you so much for reading to this point! If I'm being entirely honest this is going to be a kind of ridiculous "if I was at Hogwarts with the next generation what would we get up to" type fic so any suggestions are welcome! I'm going to try to post quite frequently but I am a law student so occasionally I will disappear under a pile of assignments so deep they block the sun.

I hope you still want to read on! Let me know what you think! Also, I'm sorry for the atrocious lack of editing!


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